The Coasters are an American Rhythm and Blues/rock and roll vocal group that had a
string of hits in the late 1950s. Beginning with "Searchin'" and "Young Blood," their most memorable songs
were written by the songwriting and producing team of Leiber and Stoller.
Although the Coasters originated outside of mainstream doo wop,
their records were so frequently imitated that they became an
important part of the doo wop legacy through the 1960s.

The songwriting team Jerry Leiber and Mike
Stoller had started Spark Records, and in 1955 produced
"Smokey Joe's Cafe" for The Robins (their 5th single with
Leiber-Stoller). The record was popular enough that Atlantic
Records offered Leiber and Stoller an independent production
contract to produce The Robins for the Atlantic label. Only two of
The Robins -- Gardner and Nunn -- were willing to make the move to
Atlantic, recording their first songs in the same studio as The
Robins had done (Master Recorders). In late 1957 the group moved to
New York and replaced Nunn and Hughes with Cornelius Gunter
and Will "Dub" Jones.
The new quartet was from then on stationed in New York (although
all had Los Angeles roots).

The Coasters' association with Leiber and Stoller was an
immediate success. Together they created a string of good-humored
"storytelling" hits that are some of the most entertaining from the
original era of rock and roll. Their first single, "Down in
Mexico", was an R&B hit in 1956 and appears (in a
re-recording from the early 1970s - still with Gardner singing the
lead) on the soundtrack of Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof. The
following year, The Coasters crossed over to the national charts in
a big way with the double-sided "Young Blood"/"Searchin'". Searchin was the group's
first U.S. Top 10 hit, and topped the R&B charts for 13 weeks,
becoming the biggest R&B single of 1957 (all these were
recorded in Los Angeles).

"Yakety Yak"
(recorded in New York), featuring King Curtis on tenor saxophone, included the famous lineup of
Gardner, Guy, Jones and Gunter, became the act's only national #1
single, and also topped the R&B chart. The next single, "Charlie
Brown", reached #2 on both charts. This was followed by "Along Came
Jones", "Poison Ivy"
(#1 for a month on the R&B chart), and "Little Egypt
(Ying-Yang)".

Several groups used the name in the 1970s, touring throughout
the country, though Carl Gardner, one of the original
Coasters, held the legal rights to it. Gardner continued to tour
with the Coasters and has made many attempts to stop bogus groups
with no connection to the original group from using the name. In
late 2005 Carl's son Carl Gardner, Jr. took over as lead with the
group, when his father retired. The Coasters of 2008: Carl Gardner
Jr, Ronnie Bright, Alvin Morse, J.W. Lance, and Thomas Palmer
(gtr), with Gardner Sr as coach.[2]

As of 2009, all of the other original group members, except Leon Hughes and Carl Gardner, have
died. Some of the former members suffered tragic ends. Saxophonist
and "fifth Coaster" King
Curtis was stabbed to death by two junkies outside his apartment building in 1971.
Cornelius Gunter was shot to death while sitting in a Las Vegas
parking garage in 1990. Nate Wilson, a member of one of Gunter's
offshoot Coasters groups, was shot and his body dismembered in
1980. [3]

Former manager Patrick Cavanaugh was convicted of the murder
after Wilson threatened to notify authorities of Cavanaugh's intent
to buy furniture with stolen checks. While Cavanaugh was convicted
of the murder and given the death sentence in 1984, his sentence
was commuted to life in prison. He died in 2006, in Nevada's Ely State
Prison. Cavanaugh was 60.[4]

The Coasters continue to appear regularly on "oldies" shows and
PBS specials as old favorites and are available for bookings.[5]

The Hits list below is from Joel Whitburn's Top R&B Singles
and from the Pop positions published in Bill Millar's book "The
Coasters" (1975).

In late June, 2007 Carl Gardner's autobiography "Carl Gardner:
Yakety Yak I Fought Back - My Life with The Coasters" was published
at AuthorHouse. On August 28, 2007 the Coasters' Leiber-Stoller
produced recordings for Date/King 1966-1972 was released on a
Varèse Vintage (Varèse Sarabande) CD, titled "Down Home" (302 066
844 2) - and on December 12, 2007 the complete Atco recordings
1954-1966 were released on a Rhino Handmade 4CD-set, titled
"There's A Riot Goin' On: THE COASTERS ON ATCO" (Rhino RHM2
7740).

Legacy

The Coasters' repertoire had a significant impact on '60s and
'70s rock artists. For example, Leon Russell performed "Young Blood" at the Concert for Bangladesh in 1971, imitating
the group's arrangement of the song with four different solo
voices; Commander Cody
and His Lost Planet Airmen recorded The Robins' "Riot in Cell
Block No. 9," while The Beach Boys recorded a 1971 version
with revised lyrics by that group's vocalist Mike Love, titled "Student Demonstration
Time." The novelty singer Ray Stevens reached No. 27 on the U.S. pop
singles chart with a 1969 remake of "Along Came Jones." Elvis
Presley included "Little Egypt" in the soundtrack for his 1964 film
Roustabout. The Rolling
Stones included "Down Home Girl" as an album track on their
1965 U.S. album Right Now. The Monkees reached No. 10 on the Cashbox
singles chart with a remake of "D.W. Washburn." Several Coasters
songs were part of The
Beatles' repertoire before the British rock group began its
recording career; George Harrison is among the singers on
the above-mentioned Leon Russell live recording. The Grateful Dead similarly performed
several Coasters songs in its early days, although this was
influenced by a weekend in 1965 in which it (while still called The
Warlocks) served as pickup band for The Coasters at a lounge in
Belmont, CA. When The Beach Boys and Grateful Dead joined on stage
to perform a brief set at New York City's Filmore East, they
performed "Searchin'" and "Riot in Cell Block No. 9." Numerous
groups have recorded "Poison Ivy."

The Coasters' hits also comprised a major portion of the song
score for the 1994 musical revue Smokey Joe's Cafe, a retrospective
of Leiber & Stoller songs that received one Grammy Award and
seven Tony Award nominations following its 1995 Broadway debut.
Their song "Baby, That's Rock and Roll" has served as the main
title for a biography/songbook of Leiber & Stoller songs and a
Bravo television documentary on the songwriters.

In addition, Coasters songs and the Coasters themselves have
been referred to by later popular musicians. Frank Zappa referenced the group in the
lyrics of the song "Status Back Baby" on his second album, Absolutely
Free. Sly Stone
titled a No. 1 hit 1971 album by his group Sly & the Family Stone
after the tag line from "Riot in Cell Block No. 9": There's a Riot
Goin' On. The folksinger David Bromberg quoted from "Little
Egypt" in his 1972 song "Sharon."

Notes: c/w denotes next track same record. U.S. Billboard chart
positions. "Shoppin' For Clothes" reached Cash Box Pop #57, and
"T'ain't Nothin' To Me" R&B position is from Cash Box (since
Billboard did not publish an R&B chart in 1964).

Discography

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US
singles discography

The line-ups are presented for general overview and do not
always fit with issue dates.

Label and catalogue number followed by month/year of issue, and
by track titles (with lead and recording dates).